Minnikhanov in Qatar: to offer vehicles of KAMAZ, see the mayor and talk to the President of OPEC
Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of Tatarstan, arrived in Doha (Qatar) on Monday evening. At the airport, he was welcomed by Salah bin Ghanem Al Ali, the Minister of Youth and Sports of Qatar. The head of the republic has an intense programme in this country of Near East. The piece of Realnoe Vremya tells more about Minnikhanov's visit.
Former sponsor of Barcelona
Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of Tatarstan, arrived in Doha on Monday evening. At the airport, the President was welcomed by Salah bin Ghanem Al Ali, the Minister of Youth and Sports of Qatar.
There was a meeting with Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Jassim Al-Thani, the Ministry of Economy and Trade of Qatar. The head of Tatarstan remembered that last time they met in March in the Annual Investment Forum in Dubai when he probably was invited to visit Qatar. 'A warm reception in Dubai predetermined our visit to Qatar. I am convinced the work of the delegation of Tatarstan will be constructive and within the scope of the interests of our countries. The main target is to activate contacts. We intend to show the potential of the Republic of Tatarstan,' the press service of the President cites his words.
At present, according to Shamil Ageyev, the chairman of the Chamber of Trade and Industry of the Republic of Tatarstan, the delegation of Tatarstan participates in a round-table work with the participation of the administration of Qatar Investment Authority, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Qatar and business circles of the country. It is also planned to meet with the administration of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development.
The latter is a partially private non-commercial organization financed by the government of Qatar as well. The main interests of the foundation are common businesses in IT, telecommunications and political investigations. There are several secondary schools and branches of international universities in Qatar that were founded due to the foundation. In addition, the foundation supports many different non-governmental organizations: Qatar Career Fair, equestrian centre, Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar Diabetes Association, Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, etc. The foundation was the official sponsor of Barcelona FC in 2010-2013.
Emir of Qatar will send investment inspectors
Today the President met with Emir of the State of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. Rustam Minnikhanov reminded that Tatarstan already has certain links with Qatar. In particular, the delegation of Qatar has been participating in KazanSummit, the Summit of Islamic Business and Finances since 2013.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Emir of the state, in turn, noted the importance of building up long-term relationships between Qatar and the Republic of Tatarstan as one of the regions of Russia. He promised to give a mandate and send representatives of the Qatar Investment Authority to Tatarstan to acquaint better with the economic and investment potential of the republic.
Further, Minnikhanov will have a meeting with Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of Qatar.
Export at $23,000
As for product turnover between the countries, it is more than moderate. The President of Tatarstan agreed with it. For this reason, the delegation included industrial 'generals' of the republic – Albert Shigabutdinov, the head of TAIF, and Sergey Kogogin, the director general of KAMAZ. During the meeting, Minnikhanov pointed out that KAMAZ delivered lorries to the country of Near East. 'Today this machine-building enterprise produces a wide range of vehicles: from simple heavy goods vehicles to basic vehicles of the Russian Army,' noted the President of Tatarstan.
The annual report for 9 months in 2015 shows that the bilateral external turnover between the Republic of Tatarstan and Qatar is equal to $602,000, including the export that made $23,000 and import – $579,000. Tatarstan exports to Qatar equipment, mechanical devices and electrical machines. The import is represented by organic chemical compounds from plastic.
Rustam Minnikhanov said that the sphere of petroleum and gas extraction industry and petroleum refinery, development of common projects in power engineering, delivery of products of KAMAZ OJSC, Kazan Helicopter Plant PJSC, Kazankompressormash PJSC, Nizhnekamskneftekhim OJSC, collaboration in IT and development of partnership in agriculture are more prospective areas for the market of Qatar for collaboration.
Efforts at 2bn
A big exhibition under the aegis of the Chamber of Trade and Industry of the Russian Federation on 11 December will give a new impetus to the relationships between the countries. Rustam Minnikhanov is expected to visit it.
'We know the business of Qatar is looking for comfortable conditions for their investments in the Russian Federation. We offer your business circles to choose Tatarstan as a site for entering the Russian market,' Rustam Minnikhanov proposed. It should be noted that in May 2014 Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, informed that the Qatar Investment Authority will expend $2bn on the common investments with the Russian Direct Investment Fund. And in February 2015, RIA Novosti with reference to Aleksander Novak, the Minister of Energy, imparted planes of investors of Qatar to invest in Russia. And this issue was due to be discussed on the intergovernmental panel of both of countries on trade and economic cooperation on 4 March. But all projects for the moment are under discussion. This trip perhaps will change something.
From APEC to Bolgar
What is more, yesterday Albert Karimov, the Acting Vice-PM of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan, met with Dr. Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sade, the Ministry of Energy of Qatar. By the way, he was elected the President of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporter Countries (OPEC) as from 1 January 2016. 'During the meeting, they discussed matters concerning cooperation of the Republic of Tatarstan and the State of Qatar in the energy industry,' according to the press release.
The cultural links were mentioned at the meetings too. Bolgar was included in the List of Heritage Sites of UNESCO in summer 2014 in Doha. The decision was made by a majority of the World Heritage Committee in their annual session.
Tatarstan and Qatar: official meetings
Realnoe Vremya prepared a chronicle of the relationships between Tatarstan and Qatar.
This trip to Qatar is not the first attempt to establish relationships with one of the richest countries of the world. The President of Tatarstan met with the delegation of Qatar during KazanSummit-2013 in October 2013. The delegation was headed by Sultan Al-Khater, the Deputy Minister of Business and Trade. Minnikhanov carefully mentioned the perspectives of the cooperation and new common projects, and that the administration of the region attentively keeps up with the economic development of Qatar. There were not concrete ideas and the statements made by the representatives of Qatar amounted to the impressions of the city and the republic.
In April 2012, the official delegation of the Republic of Tatarstan headed by Linar Yakupov, the director of the Tatarstan Investment Development Agency, visited Qatar and presented the investment possibilities of the region and the project of 'Smart City Kazan', in particular. According to Yakupov, investors of Qatar were interested in the project and Qatar Airways expressed a wish to open a direct flight Doha-Kazan before the Universiade (Student Games). The head of the TIDA also met with Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al-Thani, the chairman of the Al Faisal Holding and Qatari Businessmen Association, and Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al-Thani, the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Qatar.
Earlier, in October 2011, a delegation of Tatarstan took part in a conference of the Union of Entrepreneurs of OIC countries that was held in Doha. It is unknown exactly the meaning of the participation and composition of the delegation. It was said that the DITA was a partner of the event.
In December 2010 within the scope of the cooperation between Russia and Qatar, it was mentioned that Qatar will be visited by a collective from Tatarstan with a choreographic and musical programme.
In addition, Rustam Minnikhanov had a meeting with Ahmed Saif Al-Midhadi, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Qatar to Russia in 2010. According to the press, at the meeting, they discussed issues of the organization of air travel and common investments. It was said about plans on the participation of representatives of the business circles of Qatar in KazanSummit, which was planned at the end of June 2010. Their goal of the visit was a study of the economic potential of the republic and definition of more prospective common projects. Minnikhanov also pointed out that the financial structures of Qatar were interested in the investment in some projects in machine and helicopter building, cooperation in IT and in nanotechnologies.
Consultancy and Putin's tour
In Kazan, in February 2009, there was a seminar called 'Islamic Banking and Finances', which was organized by Linar Yakupov, the director of the Russian Centre of Islamic Economy and Finances at that time. As a result of the seminar Tatarstan, Malaysia and Qatar signed a memorandum on the creation of the Islamic Financial Consultancy whose main goal was to consult enterprises and financial institutes that planned to be in the Arab market.
In November 2008, Abdullah Mohammed Al-Derbasti, the current chargé d'affaires of the State of Qatar in Russia, visited Kazan. During his visit, he met with Mintimer Shaimiev, the President of Tatarstan. In February of 2007, Mintimer Shaimiev took part in Vladimir Putin's tour of Near East. Within the scope of the trip, Mintimer Shaimiev met with Yousef Hussain Kamal, the Minister of Economy and Finance of Qatar.
We should point out that in March 2015 it was said that Russia was going to launch export of halal poultry to Arab states. In the first stage, it was offered to export chicken meat to Qatar and the UAE. As Aleksey Alekseyenko, the associate director of Rosselkhoznadzor (Russian Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance), the Qatari party didn't mark desired volumes.
Qatar hosted the FINA World Championships before Kazan, and the next FIFA World Cup 2018 will take place in Qatar. In June, some mass media said that in case of worsening situation in the south-east of Ukraine, FIFA might transpose the WC 2018 from Russia to Qatar. However, Qatar and Russia became participants of the corruption scandal concerning the World Championships: it is supposed that the choice of Southern Africa in 2010, Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022 was made as a result of bribery.
Gusman Iskhakov and Qatar
As for religious links, we can remember that Mufti Gusman-Hazrat Iskhakov, the chairman of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan at that time, visited Qatar in 2001. He was invited by the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Qatar. He had meetings with Ahmed Abdullah Gurat, the Minister of Religious Affairs, and Mohammed Abdul Raheem, the Minister of Education.
Gusman Iskhakov visited Qatar again in March 2006 when he was invited by the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs. The mufti expressed his gratitude to Minister Faisal Al-Mahmud for the help in the erection of the building for the Russian Islamic University. By the way, the financing of the reconstruction began in 2003. In answer to him, the Minister promised the mufti to continue financing the construction of the building.
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Rafik Mukhametshin Rector of the Russian Islamic University, corresponding member of the Academy of Science of the Republic of Tatarstan, Doctor of Political Sciences
- Tatarstan and Qatar don't have any have serious economic and cultural relationships. As for education, we don't have agreements, and our students practically did not study there. This is why, as far as I am concerned, Tatarstan and Qatar do not have close connections. Other Islamic countries, including Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, are closer to us. Once we worked with benefactors, I visited them, but the relationships did not develop. There is no doubt that Islam there is different. Qatar is much closer to Saudi Arabia, and it is the Hanbali madhhab (Realnoe Vremya's Note: one of the four orthodox Sunni Islamic schools of jurisprudence; the Hanbali schools is the smallest among them. It is found mainly in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, less in the UAE and Oman), which is, generally speaking, is not very close to Tatarstan. It is another theological space. The Hanbali school is quite strict for the reason that it is aimed at monotheism. And in principle, the system of relationships in this community presupposes relationships with Muslims only. If you go outside the Muslim community, you may have many questions of how to behave.
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Shamil Ageyev Chairman of the Chamber of Trade and Industry
- It is planned that the President of Tatarstan will meet with the Ministry of Economy and have round-table talks with leading Qatari companies. They are in some measure interested in Russia and Tatarstan. The delegation includes both the director of KAMAZ and the director of TAIF. We are unknown, but Qatar is a very prospective country. Moscow and Paris can't beat their colossal projects. They are interested in all projects: in Smart City Kazan and in the Logistics Centre. I invited the representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Qatar to KazanSummit to continue searching for points of contact. They practically know nothing about us. This is why there are such intense meetings.
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